


You Pay and Pay and Pay

by Lucifuge5



Category: due South
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-17
Updated: 2010-06-17
Packaged: 2017-10-10 04:13:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/95349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucifuge5/pseuds/Lucifuge5
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spoilers for "Diefenbaker's Day Off", "A Hawk and A Handsaw" and "An Eye for An Eye." This plot bunny came to be from the dS rewatch prompt: "OMG, someone has to write a fic told from Dief's POV about his abject terror at doing 'community service work' with Fraser."  None of this characters are mine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Pay and Pay and Pay

**1\. A Con Job**

Dief hadn't given much thought to Benton's usual chiding at Dief's puppy dog eyes. Looking back, he should have been paying attention to Fraser's own brand of sneaky. Maybe if he had, he could have made it clear that there was no way he'd be here.

"It's called 'Show and Tell', Diefenbaker," Benton had said the previous night while taking out his boot polish kit.

Dief, sprawled out on the rug after a satisfying dinner, stared at him while cataloging the fatty albeit not tasty scent of neatsfoot oil. He flicked an ear.

Benton sat up, his left boot in his hands. "What is that you ask? Well, sometimes in elementary school, there are certain periods during which children are encouraged to display an item—be it flora, fauna or anything really—in front of a group of their peers. It is mostly done as a way to develop public speaking." He then studied the boot, sliding his right on the dark leather before picking up the rag he use to polish it with.

Dief huffed, perhaps with more edge than necessary. He had the feeling that Benton wasn't telling him _everything._

"Oh, but Lucy would be so disappointed! It is my understanding that her classmates are in fact very excited about meeting you."

He stretched out his front legs and yawned.

"You're not . . . you're not afraid of children, are you Dief?"

The growl was low enough to make even someone as stubborn as Benton understand that he was no coward. Children were unpredictable. Not that he couldn't defend himself. Licking his muzzle, he wagged his tail. He would show Benton.

To his credit, Benton was most apologetic the next day as they made their way back to their apartment. "I don't know who brought the taffy to class, Dief, or why the rest of the kids though it would just wash out of your fur."

Dief glared at him before agreeing that the only solution was to get his fur _shaved off._

Studying himself in the mirror afterward, Diefenbaker swore to himself that he would stay on high alert in regards to Benton's underhanded nature.

 

 

**2\. Duped**

It had sounded innocent enough.

Benton crouched down and made a show of enunciating every single word. "Dief, my friend Walter here," he pointed at a short, frail looking man who stank of anxiety, "spoke with this facility's new Medical Director. Dr. Johansen is, thankfully, a big believer in pet therapy."

Something about the subdued smell coming off Benton's body made Dief cock his head to the side.

"We've been given the green light to bring you here. I'm told none of the patients are violent."

Dief looked around Benton's legs. There was a small group of people, all huddled up in the middle of the rec room, studying him with various levels of interest. The round man wearing glasses smelled funny. He felt rather than saw the tap of Benton's finger on his snout.

"If you do this, I can promise you a run at the park followed by a snack of _your_ choice."

He yipped in surprise instead of barking which was the **first** in a series of blunders.

Four hours later, Benton was still trying to wash the red paint out of his fur.

 

 

**3\. Twice Bitten**

If Dief had been totally honest with himself, he would have been the first one to admit that he shouldn't have fallen asleep while in the car. But then, he had been able to hunt down three perfect donuts off Dewey's desk. Prior to that, he had gulped one of the strawberry éclairs out of Elaine's lunch bag. So he was quite full and happy to kick back while Ray drove them through half of the city.

He had been dreaming he was chasing the world's largest pizza when a sudden jerk shook him awake.

Up in the front, Ray was blabbing something while Benton read a piece of paper. Dief was about to ask him where they were when he got a whiff of his surroundings. There were . . . old humans in the building behind them.

Benton stepped out of Ray's car and pulled his seat to the front.

He remained stationary. No way was he going to spend any amount of time in _that_ place.

So then, Benton tried to appeal to his sense of duty as well as his sense of his compassion.

Dief sat up, considering what Benton was proposing. Still, there was no food on the table so he remained inside the car.

Finally, somehow—maybe Benton hypnotized him?—he grumbled as he followed Benton and Ray up the steps to the community center.

His nose was hit with a mix of camphor and a smell he classified simply as slow decay. Some of the elder humans gave him a quick once over. There was one, however, a tiny, older-than-old lady who _beamed_ as soon as he trotted into the room behind Benton. Dief squinted back at her. She was mouthing something that sounded like 'rocky' or 'dorky'. He didn't know which one, but his hackles stood up in warning.

Benton, of course, picked that very moment to completely ignore him, choosing instead to blab something about safety to the somber crowd.

Gladys, as Dief was to learn later while doing the half-wolf equivalent of a strut, had a pocket filled with something that was sugary and tasty, way too tasty for him to fight the temptation.

First there was the doggy coat that she had knitted out of what Dief realized was cheap acrylic yarn. Not really suitable for anyone with a pulse. Between one bite of the sweets Gladys kept offering and the next, Dief ended up wearing what constituted an actual ensemble. He had had no idea of how ridiculous he looked until he caught his reflection in a window and froze.

For once in his life, he was relieved at being colour-blind as to the light-dark pattern of the knitted wardrobe was something that not even Ray nor Gardino would ever, ever wear.

The worst part was that Benton had disappeared and Dief had no other option than to be paraded around like some kind of fashion-challenged pet. He would never live this down. Meanwhile, Gladys had taken it upon herself to show him around to everyone from the other elderly people at the meeting down to the mail carrier(who took one look at him and guffawed until she **cried**.)

By the time he met up with Benton and Ray, Dief was fiercely holding on to what was left of his dignity. He didn't miss Ray's mocking or Benton's own ill-hidden amusement. Gladys, of course, was as oblivious as a lamppost.

Dief whined what was an unmistakably pitiful 'this is not fair'. To which Benton had the _audacity_ to reply with a half-sincere offer of a dog biscuit.

A dog biscuit? What was he? A puppy? Dief felt the tug of the leash and whined a quick complaint about deceitful Mounties before trotting next to Gladys.

Benton had no idea of how far he had pushed Dief this time and that was okay. Payback, like they said, was a bitch.

THE END


End file.
